S02.E01: Everything Is Great! (1) / S02.E02: Everything Is Great! (2)

[Affogato]

10 hours ago, AnnaRose said:

I missed it too, when it aired.  I was surprised it premiered so early.  Fortunately I was able to use our cable log-in to watch.   I don't really get why that's necessary, since this is an over-the-air network broadcast.  I hope you find a way to watch, Fireball.

I can watch it at NBC.Com  without a cable log in or even registering my email. This is on a computer, though, browser, not through the app. I didn't check to see if they have the first season available. The app seems to allow 3 episodes if you Give them your contact information. 

Edited October 1, 2017 by Affogato

[OtterMommy]

18 hours ago, possibilities said:

They showed us a soulmate couple who wants to swing with Eleanor and Chidi, so monogamy is not a rule there; we know that for sure.

Hulu probably has it.

Yes, Hulu has it and I'm assuming that they'll carry the entire season until it goes over to Netflix, as happened with season 1.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

21 hours ago, Fireball said:

23 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I just checked and it's on the NBC app. I think you need a cable log-in, but you presumably have cable since you say you missed the premiere, which you would have needed cable to watch.

Nope no cable. I thought The Good Place premiered on September 20th.

Sorry to be curious, but how do you watch broadcast tv without cable? Can you watch with just an antenna?  That wouldn't work where I live.

[Fireball]

1 hour ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Sorry to be curious, but how do you watch broadcast tv without cable? Can you watch with just an antenna?  That wouldn't work where I live.

Yep I watch with an antenna. I get CBS, FOX, ABC, NBC, PBS, and other stations.

Edited October 2, 2017 by Fireball

[Affogato]

26 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Sorry to be curious, but how do you watch broadcast tv without cable? Can you watch with just an antenna?  That wouldn't work where I live.

HD channels are available via antenna in US anyway. Usually a fair number. 

[AnnaRose]

Where I used to live, I couldn't get any stations with an antenna when they were analogue... and then after the switchover to digital, I was able to receive all the local broadcast stations in HD with a very basic rabbit ears type antenna.

[ByTor]

On 9/29/2017 at 10:50 AM, Danny Franks said:

On 9/29/2017 at 9:22 AM, Tetraneutron said:

The torture with Chidi wasn't that he had to make a decision, but that he had an intense desire to not follow the rules. His whole thing is he tries to know exactly what the rules are, what you have to do to be a good person, and now he knows what they are, (there's a system and computer and everything) and he wants something different than what they system is telling him. THAT'S his torture. It's like the reason he keeps obsessing over almond milk. He wants something, but his understanding of the rules tell him it's bad. And all his indecisions are him trying to figure out what the objective right decision is. That's what his flashbacks were about.

That's fair enough, but in that case they need to be more explicit about what these rules are, because I don't think it's been said anywhere that having a soulmate means you can't be friends with, or in a relationship with, someone else. The two soulmate pairings we saw in season one weren't romantic relationships, and didn't seem to be restrictive in any way. I'm sure Michael said at one point that some soulmate bonds were romantic, some platonic. Chidi having one girl as a soulmate but wanting to spend time with another doesn't seem like much of a breach of the rules.

For what it's worth, I don't think rule following had anything to do with Chidi's torture.  Chidi tortured himself on earth with his inability to make decisions, so I'd think in Chidi's personal Good Place, all decisions would be easy no-brainers that he wouldn't have to analyze to death.  Chidi easily knew who would be his better soulmate, and just as he was about to announce his decision, BAM, it got taken away from him; even though he was FINALLY able to commit to a decision (unlike the fruit or chocolate palate at the sundae bars), it didn't stick.  That, IMO, is his torture, thinking he will finally not have to be so indecisive but then he does.

[Michichick]

On 9/30/2017 at 9:00 PM, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I just checked and it's on the NBC app. I think you need a cable log-in, but you presumably have cable since you say you missed the premiere, which you would have needed cable to watch.

You don't need cable to watch NBC. Just need a digital antenna for the TV.

edited to add that obviously I should have finished the thread before posting, because other people already covered this. Sorry!

Edited October 11, 2017 by Michichick

[Virtual]

Just saw the Season 2 episodes for the first time. 

So Michael and the rest of the workers on the office setting are actually demons..... it makes things make more sense. :P lol I was hoping for the worst ending possible for Michael and Shawn after last season's finale, since they got such a kick out of torturing people in the afterlife. But that makes sense at least, now that we know they're demons instead of humans. Besides, in these episodes, I got something even better: Michael failing over 800 times at his goal (that's more satisfying to me than something bad happening to him).

He did put together a nice looking neighborhood, though. I'd want to live there if it weren't the Bad Place. lol

[John Potts]

It does seem that Michael isn't trying as hard to torture (NotFake!)Eleanor, but going harder on Jian-Yu and Tahani. Maybe he thinks they were the ones that were responsible for Eleanor working it out, or maybe they're less likely to work it all out so torturing them has fewer consequences (I'm assuming that as a demon, he's all pro-torture)? Or maybe they just got less screen time last pass and so we're seeing more of them now. Though I did love Michael going, "I can give you more if you want it!" and Tahani feeling forced to be humble and turn him down. The fact that she essentially gets to design her own torture makes the psychology of it all the more diabolical.

On ‎9‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 4:16 AM, Fukui San said:

Michael's plan seems too exacting to ever work. Things had to go wrong in exactly the right way, rather than an improv-like take what is there and go from there.

He does seem like a micromanaging boss that has to run everything himself. Then again, his eternal torment is (apparently) on the line, so it does make some sense that he's highly motivated to have things work out right!

On ‎9‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 6:03 AM, possibilities said:

The demons all seem so dimwitted! I didn't notice that before.

I do wonder if Michael Schur read Terry Pratchett's Faust Eric, because hell here is similar - most demons are all about pulling fingernails and so on, even when the demon in charge favours more psychological torture. But the demons at the "sharp end" lack the imagination to enact the man in charge's plan.

On ‎9‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 8:21 PM, The Companion said:

The only thing more evil than pineapple on a pizza is an oatmeal raisin cookie.

On ‎9‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 1:36 AM, chaifan said:

Companion, I'm sorry but you are not my soulmate.  Not only do I actually like pineapple on a pizza (but not ham, it has to be pepperoni and pineapple), but I just love a chewy oatmeal raisin cookie.  I'm glad we found this out now.

Which just goes to show that one person's heaven is another person's hell. I'm pro Hawaiian pizza and oatmeal cookies. I'm not sure that makes Chaifan my soulmate, but it's definitely an early indicator! 

On ‎9‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 4:16 AM, Fukui San said:

Prediction: This season we will learn that this is actually Michael's torture somehow.

That would be a twist that would rival the one at the end of last season. It would be fitting if everyone in hell is there to be tortured.

On ‎9‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 4:38 AM, jumper sage said:

Wait a minute!  Was it one hour long show, 2 hour long shows or 2 1/2 hour shows?  I watched 1 hour.  Did I miss something?

I saw it as 2 half hour episodes. Episode 2 starts with Tahani waking up in "The Good Place" and meeting Michael for the "first" time.

[aradia22]

I love that Michael is trying to distract Eleanor with her hot mailman fantasy.

Chidi's torture seemed like a bit of a powder keg but I do think it was more compelling to give him a choice that for once seemed easy for him and then make it complicated. 

They really hit the ground running. They wasted no time letting Eleanor find Chidi. I guess the town only has 322 people but still.

The situation they put Tahani in was even more explosive than Chidi's. I thought the goal was to extend the torture. It was even more obvious that this wasn't the Good Place this round. At least in season 1 there was time for them to stew in their dissatisfaction. 

Jason hanging out with his new soulmate was HILARIOUS. Now there's a torture that could last a thousand years.

[aradia22]

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Michael's idea sounds good in theory that I'm sure the demons were excited by it at first but now it seems like a lot of work. Michael, as another poster stated, is making things too elaborate. 

I feel like the problem is that it's too easy to pop the illusion of the Good Place once you start feeling too bad. And yet the whole point is to torture the humans. I don't think psychological torture is a bad concept but they're prevented from doing anything too fun (for the demons, I mean) because they need to maintain the illusion that this is a good world. Otherwise, Eleanor could get a visit from her terrible parents or her neighbor could be the Dress Bitch girl (assuming they were dead or the demons can shape-shift). 

Lol. Busty Alexa.

Wow, 128 days. Also, they really sped through that. Season 2 isn't even attempting to buy into the pretense. I thought this would be a whole adventure for our team but Michael is just failing. 

"Michael, you monster!" "I'm pregnant and it's your baby." "I have tickets to Hamilton and there's a rumor Daveed Diggs is coming back." Not enough Janet so far this season.

LOL #218 her soulmate is Tahani.

Knish from a Rose, Beignet and the Jets, The Pesto's Yet to Come, and Biscotti Pippen don't even make sense as restaurant names. Chicken Soup of the Mouth was good though.

Vicky leading a revolt and getting the other demons to go on strike was brilliant. It had to happen at some point. I'm surprised they lasted through so many hundreds of attempts.

"We're here! Aren't trains neat? Choo choo!" I love Janet.

How do they keep escaping to the Middle Place without the demons finding out?

BOO. Why are they pushing the romantic angle with Eleanor and Chidi? BOO. 

[aradia22]

Quote

Chidi wasn't just undecive.  He made everyone's life miserable because of it.  It wasn't that he couldn't make big decisions but he couldn't make any decisions.  He was  frozen by in indecisiveness.  

I get that. Assuming a normal person, the point at which your behavior starts to negatively affect the people around you, you're crossing into being a jerk. Like how Eleanor was choosing between all those froyo flavors and stepped out of line so she didn't impose on anyone else. Chidi wasn't able to do that. He convinced his friend to let him try to be his best man and only admitted defeat when he failed his trial run. I will say that it produces an unfortunate implication for anyone who is not "normal." Like, hey, you should think about how your depression/anxiety/eating disorder/autism/OCD/etc. affects other people. Don't you let your mental illness or behavioral disorders affect your behavior and relationships... or you're going to hell for how you've inconvenienced other people even though your stressors and coping mechanisms are very real to you, the universe does not care.

[possibilities]

I think that's actually true about the points system as they've set it up. They take points off for impact, regardless of intentions. They also take points off for bad intentions. It's definitely a questionable approach.